


show me a hero (and i will write you a tragedy)

by gracetheworld



Series: Naruto Fics [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), BAMF Nohara Rin, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto)-centric, Edo Tensei, F/M, Heavy Angst, M/M, Multi, Namikaze Minato Lives, Nohara Rin Lives, Not A Fix-It, Other, Team Minato-centric, Team as Family, Time Travel, Unhealthy Relationships, for now, happy ending? I don't know yet, seriously unhealthy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-15 13:44:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17529824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracetheworld/pseuds/gracetheworld
Summary: This is all the current me can do, and that is... to protect this world, my comrades, and the Obito of the past... by killing the current Obito.That was what he thought as he fought Obito in the kamui dimension. Now though, he found himself here, back in the past, with a single chance to change everything.Ah, but this... this he could do as well...In Rin's place...A life for a life, as this cruel world demanded..Except, it didn't change anything.





	1. the tragedy of life is that people do not change

**Author's Note:**

> Aaah, I shouldn't be posting a new story when I haven't even completed any others, but this plot bunny has been bugging me, so here it is ;w;
> 
> I don't usually write Major Character Death stories, but well... it's for the plot.
> 
> This fic's gonna get so complicated, I can just see it lmao.
> 
> Well, that's it from me for now! Enjoy reading!
> 
>  
> 
> **25/1/2019: Fixed some error in grammar that I did not catch when publishing this.**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> .
> 
> Fic title is taken from F. Scott Fitzgerald
> 
> Chapter 1 title is taken from Agatha Christie

> _This is all the current me can do._  

—The sound of a thousand birds chirping, and blue colored lightning enveloping his kunai—

> _And that is…_

—Sharp, black rod emerging from his hand, piercing through the air—

> _… to protect this world, my comrades, and the Obito of the past…_  

—A lightning coated kunai and a sharp rod, mere centimeters away from piercing their hearts—

> _… by killing the current Obito._  

—A piercing pain, and a white filled vision.

* * *

_Chirp... chirp... chirp... chirp..._

The sound of a thousand birds chirping through the air, ringing through his ear in this deafening silence.

When Kakashi opened his eyes, he saw Rin standing in front of him.

Ah, he had replayed this scene over and over in his mind for the past two decades.

Every time, he tried to deactivate his chidori before it could reach Rin; before it could reach her and pierce her heart.

Every time, he failed.

He figured this time was not going to be different.

Still, he tried.

Everything seemed so slow in his eyes.

He felt the crackling lightning enveloping his right hand… slowly dissipating.

… what?

Just centimeters away from Rin’s chest, was his right hand… with no chidori in sight.

That never happened before.

“Kakashi, what—you have to kill me!” Rin’s cry ( _so desperate, so broken_ ) stopped his train of thoughts. She was looking at him, desperate brown eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Kakashi—

Kakashi couldn’t kill her, not when finally ( _finally_ ), he could save her.

So, he paid no heed to Rin’s plea, instead grabbing her by her collar and pushing her away from the enemy. His unoccupied hand swiftly took out a kunai from his other holster, and with a swing, he slashed the shocked kiri-nin down.

Kakashi stood before the corpse of the kiri-nin ( _the kiri-nin whom, in all of Kakashi’s nightmare re-enacting this scene over and over, was protected by Rin, who took Kakashi’s chidori to the heart to get herself killed_ ), staring at his empty, blood-less right hand numbly.

He did it.

He saved Rin.

This never happened before in his nightmares.

> _—Red and purple eyes, one with a spinning pinwheel and the other with rippling circles, locked with his own black and red ones—_

That was right. He… he was fighting Obito before this, before he…

How did he get here? How did he get into the place of his nightmare, to where he had killed Rin?

How was Rin alive in the first place?

“I… Kakashi, I was—I was supposed to die! I died before! Why is this time different?!” Rin’s shouting filled his ears, the strange words she was spouting gaining his attention easily.

_Died before? Different this time?_

“Kakashi, you know—you know I have the Sanbi in me! If I go back to Konoha—” Rin’s breath hitched in the middle of her sentence, cutting herself off. Letting out a choked sob, she glared at Kakashi. “I know you don’t— _won’t_ understand, Kakashi, but—I was supposed to be dead just now!”

“Rin, I…” slowly, as he took a deep breath, he turned to the teammate he had once killed. Rin’s words… they were starting to make sense.

Kakashi didn’t know how he got here, much less how Rin got here.

Time travel wasn’t supposed to be possible, especially not when you and your opponent were trying to kill each other; especially not when one of the people back in the past with him had been dead for twenty years or so.

But here he was, and here Rin was as well.

“I can’t let you die. Not again.” He ended, trying to mask his pain from his now much, _much_ younger teammate, even if it was only mentally. “I went through that once, and—” And everything fell apart. Him, Konoha, the world—

Obito.

Rin seemed to understand that he, too, came from the future she remembered ( _well, remembered up until her death, that is_ ). “Then why? You know, you should know about the faulty seal! About the Sanbi!” She cried out, gesturing to herself as she glared at Kakashi. “If I go back to Konoha, if I survive—I’ll destroy Konoha! I can’t! I don’t want to destroy Konoha! I don’t want to destroy the village that Obito loved!” Her breathing started to become rushed, uneven. Her body was trembling; with fear or rage or desperation, Kakashi didn’t know.

Suddenly, the air felt heavy.

Ah, a jinchuuriki with a faulty seal—add being in a highly negative emotional state…

It only spelt disaster.

“Rin, you have to calm down.” Kakashi told her, approaching her slowly. He had never approached a Kyuubi-influenced Naruto without Tenzou before, so he didn’t know how to deal with an unstable jinchuuriki, but he had to try.

For Rin.

For Obito.

“How can I be calm?! I can feel it even now—the sanbi trying to break out!” Rin closed her eyes as she hugged herself, shying away from Kakashi. “Please, Kakashi… you have to—you have to kill me. Before it’s too late…! It’s trying to—KAKASHI, PLEASE! DO IT NOW!”

“I can’t! I can’t kill you! Not again! Rin, you have to understand—”

“No, Kakashi! You have to understand!” Kakashi watched as Rin desperately demanded him; watched as bubbles of chakra began to wrap around her like a cloak, even if she was unaware. “You have to kill me before I—”

Rin could never finish her sentence.

> _This is all the current me can do, and that is… to protect this world, my comrades and the Obito of the past…by killing the current Obito._

He had thought that back when he was fighting Obito in the kamui dimension.

But…

> _But… no… this… this, he could do as well._
> 
> _The world demanded balance. When a life was saved, another should be taken._
> 
> _Yeah, this… this he could do._
> 
> _In Rin’s place…_

Weakly, he smiles at Rin, even if she could only see his eyes.

He coughed out blood, but it didn’t deter him from smiling at Rin, even as he started feeling his own life leaving him.

“Rin… live.”

> _In Rin’s place, Kakashi will die._
> 
> _A life for a life, as this cruel world demanded._

The last thing Kakashi heard… was Rin screaming.

* * *

 

> _The water turned red as blood of countless kiri-nins were slain so easily._
> 
> _A black cloaked figure knelt beside the bleeding corpse of the silver haired teen, ignoring the unconscious brunette as he scooped him up._
> 
> _White hand cupped the pale, masked face gently._
> 
> _“Kakashi… I’ve told you before… this world is hell.” He murmured quietly to the lifeless body, cradling the silver haired teen to his chest. “If it’s not Rin, it’s you… I can’t accept that.” He pulled the dead teen closer to himself. “Don’t worry, this time… this time I’ll do it right. I’ll make sure that the Infinite Tsukuyomi is realized.”_
> 
> _A single, crimson colored eye shone in the dark, the pinwheel pattern in it spinning as a vortex appeared behind them. “For the three of us…”_
> 
> _And with that, the ones that were left were the slain kiri-nins and a single, unconscious brunette._

* * *

Brown eyes slowly opened, and she was met by the familiar white walls of Konoha Hospital—

She woke up with a gasp, her body shooting right up. “Kakashi!” the name slipped out without as much as a thought, but the owner of the name wasn’t there anywhere within her field of vision. He was—

—he was dead.

That was right, Rin—Rin killed him.

A sob escaped her lips, and she buried her face in her hands.

She killed Kakashi.

This must be why Kakashi had refused killing her a second time.

The pain—the pain was too much.

“—in! Rin!” A voice—a familiar one—called out to her. Slowly, she lifted her head up, and it was Minato-sensei. He was looking at her, an understanding, if sad, expression settled on his face. His right hand was on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. “Rin, don’t blame yourself.” He whispered. “You weren’t in control, especially with the faulty seal.”

Rin felt tears threatening to fall again. “B-But, sensei—I—I was supposed to be the one who died! Not Kakashi!” she rasped, both her hands clutching onto the blanket placed over her lower body tightly till her knuckles turned white. “Kakashi—Kakashi was supposed to live, like—like—”

“—Like before, right?”  Rin’s eyes widened, and looking at Minato-sensei’s blue eyes, she knew that Minato-sensei also came from the future ( _the future that never was now_ ). “I remember. I—I tried to come to you and Kakashi as soon as I could, knowing what was taking place when I realized I was in the past. When I arrived though…”

“… you found me alive, but unconscious, instead.” Rin finished for him quietly, looking away, eyes casted down. “I should have died, but Kakashi stopped himself before his chidori could pierce me, and—and we got into an argument, and…”

Rin couldn’t continue, and Minato did not push her. She appreciated him for it.

Minato looked away from her as well. “We didn’t find Kakashi’s body.”

Rin’s body stiffened. “Wh— what?” No, no, Minato-sensei must be joking. It couldn’t be!

Kakashi’s dead, and they didn’t even have a body to bury?

With the dawning realization, Rin couldn’t help but break down.

* * *

It was dark.

But not like when he met his father; an empty space of nothing but darkness, with only him, Sakumo and a little bonfire lighting said space.

No, it was dark like how a cave was dark.

“Ah… you’re finally up, Kakashi. Took you long enough.” Kakashi’s eyes widened. He lifted his head, only to find Obito ( _much younger looking, but still Obito_ ) standing in front of him, his hands parting from one another, a sign that he had just done a jutsu, most probably.

Kakashi looked down on his hands… and found cracks over his skin.

Shakily, he looked up at Obito. “Obito, you didn’t…”

Obito chuckled darkly as he approached Kakashi, pulling the silver haired teen by his hand closer, as Obito wrapped his hands around Kakashi. “I can’t bring you back fully right now. I don’t have the rinnegan to perform rinne-tensei, so I had to go for the next best thing…” he replied. “I hope you don’t mind, Kakashi.”

If Kakashi had a working heart right now, or a functioning pair of lungs, his heart would probably skip a beat and his breathing became unlabored.

But he wasn’t.

He didn’t have a working heart or a pair of working lungs.

He wasn’t even alive.

“Don’t worry, Kakashi. Soon, you’ll be alive again, and the Infinite Tsukuyomi will be realized.” Obito promised to him, voice low and dark, tinged with a sort of obsession only an Uchiha could muster.

Kakashi wanted to scream at him, to tell him that he should stop this madness, to let Kakashi die and to go back to Konoha to be with Rin and with Minato-sensei and Kushina-neesan.

Oh, Kakashi wanted to.

He couldn’t, no matter how the words were already in the tip of his tongue.

“Why… why do this…? Why revive me at all, even if it’s only Edo-tensei?” Kakashi asked instead, not brave enough to pull away just yet to come face in face with Obito. “Rin… Rin’s alive, Obito, and—and you hate me.”

As much as it pained him to admit that Obito hated him.

“I don’t hate you.” Obito replied. “I love Rin, but I realized… when I saw Rin’s tail piercing you—that I love you as well.” He admitted. “I was blinded by Rin’s death in the past, so blind that I didn’t realize that I love you too. Now—we’re back here and while Rin lived, you died, and I can’t accept that.” His embrace tightened. “A world without you or Rin… it’s hell, Kakashi. That’s why, this time, I’ll do it right. For you, for me, for Rin…”

Kakashi wanted to tell him to stop.

Wanted to tell him that this wasn’t worth it.

That Kakashi was not worth it.

But no words escaped his lips.

He knew he couldn’t attack Obito. Kakashi was sure he had placed a restricting seal that allowed freedom for Kakashi, but not so much that it allowed Kakashi to try stop Obito.

He could only speak to Obito, try convincing him to stop with his words.

But no words, not a single one, slipped past his lips that night.

And he doubted that they will ever in the days after this one.

They travelled in time. It should have been a second chance for all of them.

Hah, what a joke. They only made it worse.

> _There was no happy end in sight to this tragedy of theirs._

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	2. history repeats itself (first as tragedy and then as farce)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title taken from Lawrence Wilkerson.
> 
> .
> 
> Thank you to everyone who have read, subscribed, bookmarked, gave kudos, and commented on this fic! Without much further ado, I present you the second chapter!

Naruto woke up… and found himself in an unfamiliar room.

It was not his apartment room. No, this room was far bigger than his apartment room, both from before and after Pein’s attack. It was not the hospital either, seeing none of the distinct white coloured walls. In fact, this room was very lively with the bright orange painted walls, a colour almost no inns would be caught colouring their walls with.

“Naruto, wake up or you’re going to be late!” A feminine voice called out from outside, but it only resulted on Naruto freezing on the spot, because Naruto _knows_ that voice. He would never forget it, not after finally hearing it for the first time after wondering for almost seventeen years—“Minato, wake up your son!”

“So, when he’s lazy, he’s _my_ son…” another voice replied dryly. This voice, too, was a voice Naruto would never forget, even if he had been hearing it more recently before… well, before he woke up in this place, wherever it is.

His breath hitched when the door was opened, and his dad entered the room. “Naruto, are you—oh, you’re awake. That’s good.”

It was, honest to whatever powerful being was up there, Namikaze Minato.

“D-Dad…” And oh, his voice was different. Lighter than his voice was, like when puberty hadn’t hit him yet. He glanced down to his hands, and saw them being smaller than he remember them being.

Oh no, did they fail? Did Obito and Madara succeeded in realizing the Infinite Tsukuyomi? But last he remembered, Obito was still inside Kamui, fighting with Kakashi. The reanimated hokages had just erected a barrier to hold the Juubi, and they were fighting the Juubi’s fragments inside the red barrier—

“Naruto,” he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and saw Minato looking at him in concern. “Are you alright? Did you have a nightmare?”

Naruto looked at his dad, and saw no signs of Edo-tensei. He looked as alive as the chakra imprint Naruto met during Pein’s attack. His dad was dead though, no matter how much Naruto wanted it to be otherwise. His dad and mom were dead, and this—

“—this can’t be real. No, this—a genjutsu? _Kai_!” Naruto flared his chakra to break the illusion, but nothing happened. His dad was still there, albeit now with narrow eyes looking at him, a calculating gaze dancing within the blue orbs. “ _Kai_! _Kai_!” he tried twice more, but the result did not change, which only served to make Minato frowned deeper.

“Naruto…” His dad started, kneeling down so that he could look at Naruto in the eyes. “Do you remember the Juubi?”

Naruto’s blue eyes widened. This man in front of him—he knew about the Juubi.

Could it be… could it really be—“Dad? I—It’s really you?” he asked quietly, looking at Minato with wide eyes full of disbelief and hope.

Minato nodded. “Yes. It’s me. It seems there are more people who travelled through time than I first thought.” He replied, smiling wryly. “I came back a little over thirteen years ago. Changed some things.” He added.

Naruto felt hope blossomed in his heart. “Changed some things—you changed a lot of things! You and mom are alive for one!” He exclaimed happily, because this meant that he’d be able to grow up with parents this time around! “Did you—did you defeat the Masked Man that night?”

The older blond shook his head. “Sadly, no. He still managed to extract the Kyuubi out of Kushina, but due to my foreknowledge and Kyuubi apparently also travelling through time via my soul, we were able to settle things much more peacefully this time around after I broke the Masked Man’s control over the Kyuubi, and we managed to seal the Kyuubi inside you without having to lose life.” He explained.

Naruto’s smile softened, placing his left hand over his stomach. “So, Kurama’s here too…” he seriously wouldn’t know how to feel if he didn’t have Kurama in this new timeline. Sure, he was happy to have Minato and Kushina alive this time around, but he’d miss Kurama if he didn’t get Kurama in this lifetime.

**_“Hmph, brat. You won’t be able to get rid of me so easily.”_** Kurama growled from within Naruto’s mindscape, and his first words to Naruto after Naruto arrived in this timeline made Naruto snorted in amusement.

_‘Can’t get rid of me easily either, partner.’_ Naruto replied cheekily.

Before either Naruto or Minato could say anything else, Kushina’s head peeked in from outside of Naruto’s room. “Minato, what took you so—Naruto! You’re awake! Hurry up and get ready or you’ll be late for team assignment!” and oh, his mom was very beautiful still, even though there was a noticeable ten years difference between the her in front of him right now with the chakra imprint he met when trying to pull Kurama’s chakra.

Pushing that thought aside, Naruto’s eyes widened in realization over his mom’s words. So he came back to Team Assignment day? That was like, three years ago! Oh, he couldn’t wait to meet his team again! Why didn’t his dad say anything about it just now?! He’d almost been late the last time around! No way was he going to be late this time as well! “Oh shit, I’ll take a quick shower!” With that, he rushed away from his room.

“Language, Naruto!” Naruto just giggled on his way to the bathroom at Kushina’s yell. Oh, he wouldn’t mind having more days like this. He wouldn’t mind being scolded by Kushina daily if it meant him having a happy family.

Now… where was the bathroom, anyways?

* * *

Naruto arrived in class with five minutes to spare, thanks to Minato taking a pity on him and deciding to help him get to the Academy on time with the Hiraishin before going off for work himself, much to Kushina’s protest. Naruto was pretty sure that that was a _huge_ misuse of an S-Rank jutsu, but his dad was the Hokage, so who could protest? His words were practically law, so if Minato wanted to use Hiraishin to spoil his only son, no one would comment.

Well, Kushina would, but even that would probably be a little bit halfheartedly.

He entered the classroom, and found it as rowdy as he remembered it to be. The ino-shika-cho team talking amongst each other, with Ino trying to get a peek on Sasuke, the fangirls in the class also doing the same, Kiba was snacking with Choji, Shino was… conversing with his bugs, Hinata was looking away from the door currently. Everything was just the same like he remembered…

Except for the fact that Sakura and Sasuke were sitting on the same seat with enough space between them for one more person, and the fact that Sakura wasn’t making any of those fangirling eyes at Sasuke, and was in fact, trying so hard not to look at him.

Naruto’s eyes widened again. _‘Could it be…?’_ A grin spread on his lips. _‘Well, only one way to find out!’_ He rubbed his hands together as he made his way towards the two. There was one question that those two could answer only if they came from the future like he did. “Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, Sasuke, how late do you think our Jounin-sensei will be?” he asked, low enough for only the three of them to hear. Couldn’t have everyone asking how he knew they’d be on the same team, right? Even if he was the Hokage’s son…

A knowing gleam seemed to shine on both Sakura and Sasuke’s eyes, and in almost a perfect unison, the two of them replied, “Three hours.”

Naruto’s grin widened. “You guys are here too!” He cheered, jumping over the table to get to the empty space in the chair that he now knew they left empty just for him. He slung an arm around Sasuke and Sakura’s shoulders. “I’m so glad!”

“Why do you think we are in the past, though? Does either of you two know who we even got here?” Sakura whispered, her brows scrunched in suspicion as her green eyes glanced at Naruto and Sasuke back and forth. “I just woke up finding myself in my room, even though the last thing I remember was working on healing everyone in the battlefield.”

Sasuke shook his head. “No… this isn’t a genjutsu though. I disrupted my chakra flow, but it changed nothing.” He replied as quietly, looking away with his arms folded in front of his chest. “Though… my clan isn’t massacred in this… world, whatever this place is. Or, if we are really in a different timeline, then someone else also came back and has been changing things left and right.”

Naruto nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, my dad.” The blond said, a little bit smugly because damn, he was proud of having a dad who had singlehandedly changed the past for the better! “He came back around thirteen years ago, and changed a lot of things.” He nudged Sasuke teasingly. “You can thank my awesome dad later.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and didn’t even deign to respond.

They couldn’t continue their conversation as Iruka entered telling them to shut their traps up, before proceeding to give the exact same speech from the one in the previous timeline. Naruto loved Iruka, really, but his speeches were boring and Naruto really, _really_ wanted the team assignment to be done and over with.

None of the three of them commented when they were put on the same team. They had known after all. It might have made their classmates and academy teacher a little bit suspicious, but Naruto really didn’t care, and he suspect so did Sakura and Sasuke. Their team was here and all they had to do was wait for Kakashi to come pick them up and their team would be complete!

Well, no, it wouldn’t be complete without Captain Yamato and Sai, but once they got Kakashi, they could get Captain Yamato as well, and then he can convince his dad to get Sai from Danzo for him.

They weren’t surprised that they were the last of the teams to be left in the empty classroom. They were far too used to Kakashi’s chronic lateness, after all. In fact, if Kakashi had strolled in into this classroom any earlier than in three hours, they’d suspect that person to be an imposter and not the Kakashi they knew.

So, imagine their surprise when twenty minutes after team assignment was complete, the door was slid open and a brown haired woman with purple markings on her cheeks entered, her breathing a little ragged. “Sorry for being late, you three! The hospital suddenly needed a little help, and well, anyways—anyways, I tried to get here as fast as I could!”

Three pair of eyes stared at the woman with wide eyes, looking at her in disbelief mixed with denial.

_No_. This person couldn’t be—Their sensei was Kakashi! Not this—

“Who—who are you?” Sakura questioned, narrow green eyes looked at the woman warily.

The brunette blinked, before she composed herself and said, “My name is Rin, Nohara Rin. I will be your jounin sensei from today on.”

_No_.

> _It was happy in the beginning, until it was not. Life seemed good at first until you were hit with the unexpected. Truly, tragedies always have the nicest beginning._

* * *

 

**To Be Continued**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, this has always been the plan. The two generations of Team 7 going back in time on different points! They all came from the same point of time (minus Rin), only because of reasons (that I can't say, because _spoilers_ ), they are transported to two different points in the past.
> 
> Naruto didn't refer to Obito as Obito during his conversation with Minato simply because he was far used to referring him as the Masked Man. So, for now, Minato still doesn't know... yet. With Naruto and co. here? Soon.
> 
> .
> 
> Thanks for reading it this far, I hope you guys like it!
> 
> If you guys do like it and what to scream about it with me, you can find me in twitter and tumblr!
> 
> Tumblr: [@mirei191](https://mirei191.tumblr.com/)  
> Twitter: [@mirei191](https://twitter.com/mirei191/)


	3. the tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or joy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title taken from Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dream
> 
> .
> 
> This fic: How to write sasuke in a situation that is not crack, terribly.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~aka i can't write sasuke when the setting isn't humor~~

Uchiha Sasuke had a lot of regrets in his life.

The biggest was hating his brother; his brother who never actually did anything wrong, only following the orders of rotten elders blinded by their own perception; his brother who decided to bathe himself in the blood of their family for the sake of protecting little, naïve Sasuke who easily believed the words of others.

Another one was betraying his team—as in _Team Seven_. Much as he loathed admitting, especially to Naruto, Team Seven had grown into a sort of family to him. Even when he left Konoha and was practically on the opposite side as his former teammates, even as he tried to kill Sakura and Kakashi and Naruto, he still thought of them as a sort of family.

So, when he woke up this morning, finding himself in his twelve years old body, with a life surrounded by his mother and father and _older brother_ —

—Well, he first thought that it was the Infinite Tsukuyomi, no matter how impossible it was since the Edo-Tensei’ed Madara was being preoccupied by one of Hashirama’s mokubunshin, and the fake Madara, Tobi, was off somewhere else, but definitely not on the battlefield.

He tried to dispel it, but no, it did not work. Perhaps, it was because it was an impossibly strong genjutsu that couldn’t be broken just by mere chakra disruption.

He played along with ‘his family’, not wanting to make anyone suspicious, even if it turned out that this ‘family’ of his turned out to only be an illusion construct.

He went to the academy. His ‘mother’ said that today was his Team Assignment day.

He sat on his usual spot ( _it had been so long_ ), not talking to anyone. Really, he hadn’t really cared for anyone in this room. The only people he cared about in their graduating class were only Naruto and Sakura, and they weren’t here yet.

Ten minutes later, the door was slid open. Ino and Sakura entered together. Surprisingly though, unlike before, they weren’t arguing, instead they seemed to be gossiping about something. Ah, if this was Infinite Tsukuyomi, it’d make sense that this Sakura and Ino weren’t as annoying as their real, twelve years old self were.

Ino went to talk with Shikamaru and Choji, nagging them about something. Sakura went to sit on the same row as him. Yet, she did not initiate any talk.

Very strange.

In fact, Sakura was avoiding looking at him at the moment.

Sasuke’s brows scrunched down, and his black eyes glanced over the pink haired teen calculatingly. _‘Could it be…?’_

Well, he could try asking something only the future Sakura would know… but Sasuke had been away from the village for three years, and the last time they met, he tried to kill her. Asking her about what happened between the two of them on the Kage Summit—well, it wouldn’t be tactful if this was indeed the Sakura he knew.

He was saved from asking when Naruto barged in into the classroom, five minutes earlier than before. Sasuke saw the blond looking at them, a knowing (if mischievous) grin stretched his lips as he rubbed his hands together, before the blond approached them, cheerfully asking in a whisper. He asked them how late they thought their jounin-sensei will be.

It was obvious that this Naruto was talking about Kakashi. The only jounin infamous enough to be known by his bad habit of being late was only the silver haired jounin, after all.

It also did not come as a surprise when Sakura answered the question almost in unison with him.

So, it wasn’t only Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura… they too were in this world as well.

Whatever this world was.

If this really was the Infinite Tsukuyomi world though, they’d have to break out of this world soon. Nothing good came from a world of dreams made of lies.

Even that much, someone like Sasuke knew.

Sakura finally breached the topic. Thankfully, Naruto actually had the answer as to where exactly they were.

Or rather, _when_ exactly they were.

_‘That means, this morning—it’s really Mother and Father and Itachi—’_

A second chance, huh?

A second chance Sasuke doubted he deserved.

… He had a bad feeling.

Thirty minutes later, he was proven right when the door slid open and a woman they never seen before entered the classroom.

Uchiha Sasuke had a lot of regrets in his life.

The biggest was hating his brother; his brother who never actually did anything wrong, only following the orders of rotten elders blinded by their own perception; his brother who decided to bathe himself in the blood of their family for the sake of protecting little, naïve Sasuke who easily believed the words of others.

Another one was betraying his team—as in _Team Seven_. Much as he loathed admitting, especially to Naruto, Team Seven had grown into a sort of family to him. Even when he left Konoha and was practically on the opposite side as his former teammates, even as he tried to kill Sakura and Kakashi and Naruto, he still thought of them as a sort of family.

So, when he woke up this morning, finding himself in his twelve years old body, with a life surrounded by his mother and father and _older brother_ —

When he found out that this really was the past; that it meant a second chance to be with his family, both biological and his team—

He thought that everything was going well for once.

Mother and Father and Itachi were here. Naruto and Sakura as well. Kakashi would come soon enough to complete it.

Except, Kakashi didn’t.

In his place, it was this woman; a brunette with purple marking on her cheeks. Nohara Rin, she said her name was.

She claimed to be their jounin sensei.

Silence stretched within the room after Nohara’s introduction, but Sasuke can see the utter denial on both his teammate’s faces.

Sakura was the first to react. “No, you can’t be!” She exclaimed, hands curled into fists as she glared at the brunette. “Our sensei—Our sensei is Kakashi-sensei!”

Sakura’s reaction got a rise from Naruto as well. “That’s true! I-Is Kakashi-sensei on a mission right now? And you’re some kind of, I don’t know, a substitute teacher or something that dad sent us for the day?” Naruto was smiling, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. He was trying to lie to himself, because if Kakashi wasn’t here, that could only mean a few things.

Or a lot, because with many things changing…

“Where’s Kakashi?” He decided to ask, because neither of his teammates seemed to be brave enough to ask that question.

Nohara looked pale as she stared at them. “You—how did you know Kakashi?” She asked, voice barely above a whisper, but it rang loudly within this empty classroom with only four occupants. “Kakashi’s—” She stopped, flinching at whatever it was that passed through her mind. She shook her head, and then stared at them with hardened eyes. “Are you three from the future that never was as well? A future where Kakashi was your jounin sensei?”

“Y-You knew?” Sakura was surprised.

“I came from that timeline as well, though I had been dead for… more or less two decades, if I remember what Minato-sensei told me correctly.” Rin admitted. “We… we should talk about this somewhere else. Somewhere more private. The walls have ears, after all.”

Spies.

Probably Danzo.

So, even the great Yondaime of Konoha couldn’t get rid of the corrupt elder.

Nohara brought them outside of the academy. She led them towards…

“Why are you leading us to my home?” Naruto asked, frowning.

Ah, that was right. Since Naruto’s parents were alive this time around, he did not need to live in an apartment anymore. He had a real house, a real _home_.

“Naruto-kun, you might not remember this for now, but I used to babysit you, you know?” Nohara commented dryly as she opened the gates with her blood.

A seal based lock. How Uzumaki.

“Kushina-san is on a mission right now, and I’ve sent message for Minato-sensei to come.”

They were led inside the house, to the living room, where they sat in awkward silence. No one dared to speak anything. Not even Naruto, surprisingly. When Naruto did not speak his mouth off, it spoke of how serious the situation was.

The Yondaime appeared in a flash within the living room. He turned towards Nohara. “Rin, what’s the matter?”

“Well, sensei…” Nohara gestured to the three of them.

One glance at Sasuke and his teammates, understanding dawned upon the older blond, and a sad look washed over his face. He said nothing though, and instead, looked away.

“Dad! Where’s Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto had finally had enough with the no answer they had been receiving since Nohara appeared in their lives. “Is—Is Kakashi-sensei on a mission right now? Or, or maybe, does he never leave ANBU, that’s why Rin-san is our jounin sensei?”

The Yondaime ran a hand through his hair, an expression of conflict clearly displayed on his face. “Naruto, I…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say. What was so bad that even the Yondaime had no way of saying it directly?

_‘Unless…’_

There was only one reason why the Yondaime would feel so conflicted about telling his son about Kakashi.

There was only one reason for the sadness and guilt in his face as he tried to come up with a way to gently break the news to Naruto.

“… Kakashi’s dead, isn’t he?” Sasuke blantantly interrupted, because there was no other way to say this except by ripping of the band aid at once. “Somewhere along the line, as you tried to change the future, Kakashi, who definitely remembered the future that never was as well, sacrificed himself like the fool he was, didn’t he?”

“Bastard! Shut up! Kakashi-sensei isn’t a fool!” Naruto defended, glaring at Sasuke with blue eyes that were close to tears. “And Kakashi-sensei isn’t dead! He can’t be! Not when—not when everything was finally going fine for once! Not when I finally have my parents alive! Not when I have Kurama with me! Not when you’re finally back in Konoha with no reason to leave because your whole family is alive! Not when all of us are here to be a team again! Kakashi-sensei—” Naruto sucked in a breath, before he released it slowly, trying to hide the appearing quiver in his voice. “Kakashi-sensei can’t be dead.”

Naruto’s outburst was met with silence.

Sakura was the one who broke it. The pink haired teen turned towards the Yondaime and their new sensei. “Sasuke-kun is right, isn’t he?” She asked quietly, voice raspy as she tried to hold back her tears. “Kakashi-sensei… Kakashi-sensei is dead, isn’t he?”

“Dad, please tell me it isn’t true!” Naruto pleaded desperately.

And as much as Sasuke loathed to admit it, he didn’t want his presumption to be correct as well.

But life had always been a cruel mistress when it came to Sasuke and the people he was close with.

The Yondaime looked away, unable to answer his son face to face. “I’m sorry, Naruto… Kakashi’s…” he swallowed bile on his throat, before continuing, “Kakashi’s dead; has been, for almost twenty years.”

Uchiha Sasuke had a lot or regrets in his life.

Hating his big brother was one of them. Abandoning his first team was another one of them.

Not being able to apologize to Kakashi any longer for all the mistakes he had done even though now he had a second chance to do so was another one.

> _Life has never been fair. You can’t get everything you want. That’s the tragedy of life._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh... this chapter is more of a filler than anything, and I'm not satisfied with it. A necessary evil though :/
> 
> .
> 
> Thanks for reading it this far, I hope you guys like it!
> 
> If you guys do like it and what to scream about it with me, you can find me in twitter and tumblr!
> 
> Tumblr: [@mirei191](https://mirei191.tumblr.com/)  
> Twitter: [@mirei191](https://twitter.com/mirei191/)

**Author's Note:**

> Just to be clear: Every member in Team Minato remembers. Why? Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? ;D
> 
> For their memories: Kakashi, Obito, and Minato remembered up until the Fourth Shinobi World War. It's, as obviously stated in the story, during the Kamui Fight. Meaning, Minato still didn't know that the masked man... yet. Rin, obviously, only remembered up until her death.
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading it this far, I hope you guys like it!
> 
> If you guys do like it and what to scream about it with me, you can find me in twitter and tumblr!
> 
> Tumblr: [@mirei191](https://mirei191.tumblr.com/)  
> Twitter: [@mirei191](https://twitter.com/mirei191/)


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